September 23, 2016 at 9:54 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Don't tell the boss
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
September 24, 2016 at 8:05 am
Nice editorial, Grant. I must agree that hiding (or ignoring) problems is never a good idea. I try to keep my boss up to date on things at the level of detail he wants. Of course, that level varies depending on how busy he is with other things. 😉 If he wants more information on something, he knows he can ask for it. There's a fine line with giving just enough information (which he wants) and overloading him with more than he wants to know.
I do try to take the "here's what's wrong, here's what I'm doing about it and the next step is this" approach so I'm not just constantly complaining because my real goal is to fix the problem. In fact, I'm usually the one writing/running something to go out and search for problems before they turn into a crisis.
Besides, if the boss doesn't know what's going on, he can't have your back if needed.
September 24, 2016 at 12:35 pm
Yes, what can't be measured cannot be managed.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
September 25, 2016 at 10:12 pm
I agree the business (not just the boss) has to know.
I proved this once when I accidentally screwed something up on a production server. I fixed it almost within minutes, but I still told the boss (who is non-technical) what I did. As I'm the only technical resource at the time and no one can double check my own work but myself, I took it upon myself to let the business know.
My boss was kind of puzzled and asked me why I told him if I just fixed it anyways? I told him because even though I still fixed the problem, I still made the mistake. If I don't tell you, then no one will.
Through practices like that, I built a strong trust with my boss. That's the return on investment with transparency.
September 26, 2016 at 12:09 am
Utter lunacy.
A lot of our stuff is on dashboards which display on 55" monitors around the building. Production metrics need to be displayed where devs can see them
September 26, 2016 at 1:31 am
It is similar to when so called professionals refuse to share how something works. They might believe it creates job security but eventually the management hierarchy dislike being held to ransom. It also is too much of a risk as they can only manage what they now and understand (xsevensinzx is totally right about trust).
I was in a meeting once when it was said by a senior manager to offer a long term contractor to go permanent at the company's standard band for the role as there will be no renewal. The contractor's line manager complained that it would be extremely difficult as he believed that the contractor wouldn't provide any form of hand over if he was leaving as he refused to document what he was doing when he staying. The senior manager ask how that situation differed to one where he got run over to which there was no response. The senior manager highlighted that at least this way they could manage the timing. The ultimatum was made to the contractor in a toned down form of there will only be a renewal if he documented the system or he could go permament and still document the system. The contractor thought he had them over a barrel and refused fully expecting a renewal. He left a few weeks later in complete shock. Pleasing the senior management who saw them as not being a team player (it was only partly about the money but mainly about ability to manage risk). An existing employee was immediately tasked with gaining an understanding and documenting the aforementioned system. They did. The company moved on.
Trust, or lack of it, is a huge driver.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 26, 2016 at 2:45 am
"If you really can't fix the problem then,"
Can't fix the problem? Does this situation really occur? Everything is fixable one way or another...
September 26, 2016 at 3:12 am
call.copse (9/26/2016)
"If you really can't fix the problem then,"Can't fix the problem? Does this situation really occur? Everything is fixable one way or another...
Sometimes not within budget or not within timescales. Never happened to me (thus far) but I have heard of it occurring. Mostly when it comes to infrastructure.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 26, 2016 at 6:08 am
call.copse (9/26/2016)
"If you really can't fix the problem then,"Can't fix the problem? Does this situation really occur? Everything is fixable one way or another...
If the issue is beyond someone's capabilities or knowledge, yeah, the problem may be, temporarily, unfixable.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
September 26, 2016 at 6:09 am
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I was hoping someone would come in and argue in favor of hiding information since it sometimes seems to be considered a valid position.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
September 26, 2016 at 6:12 am
First, I agree that monitoring all the things that can go wrong should be done. And hiding things is generally a bad idea.
But let me play a little devil's advocate here. I have seen bosses that would be asking about every little thing that might be indicated to be a problem. Such as that query that took a half second longer than the threshold. Or perhaps they would come into the office the moment page life expectancy dipped just a little bit. There are bosses which would constantly be bugging about every little noise made in the system.
At one place I worked at, it took our new DBA (who was learning on the job) a couple weeks of tweaking to get a described tool to where it wasn't giving a regular stream of alerts. And this was on an instance that had been running for a couple years as it was. Which does bring up something - a tool that was described should be normal. And it should be properly setup for your installation. Perhaps it should have some different settings for different people. Some bosses will also always be constantly poking into things that they don't understand. Some will learn what to be concerned about, but not all.
September 26, 2016 at 6:41 am
Grant Fritchey (9/26/2016)
...I was hoping someone would come in and argue in favor of hiding information since it sometimes seems to be considered a valid position.
I guess either only by people who aren't part of this community or by people who know it is wrong but do it anyway yet will not admit to it.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 26, 2016 at 6:48 am
kiwood (9/26/2016)
First, I agree that monitoring all the things that can go wrong should be done. And hiding things is generally a bad idea.But let me play a little devil's advocate here. I have seen bosses that would be asking about every little thing that might be indicated to be a problem. Such as that query that took a half second longer than the threshold. Or perhaps they would come into the office the moment page life expectancy dipped just a little bit. There are bosses which would constantly be bugging about every little noise made in the system.
At one place I worked at, it took our new DBA (who was learning on the job) a couple weeks of tweaking to get a described tool to where it wasn't giving a regular stream of alerts. And this was on an instance that had been running for a couple years as it was. Which does bring up something - a tool that was described should be normal. And it should be properly setup for your installation. Perhaps it should have some different settings for different people. Some bosses will also always be constantly poking into things that they don't understand. Some will learn what to be concerned about, but not all.
Absolutely true stuff. I've had similar issues with non-technical bosses. It just means you have to work hard to clarify the reporting and to communicate well with the person in question. It doesn't mean you literally hide bad things from them.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
September 26, 2016 at 7:22 am
Grant Fritchey (9/26/2016)
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I was hoping someone would come in and argue in favor of hiding information since it sometimes seems to be considered a valid position.
Well, sometimes hiding *some* of the information is a good thing.
I've been dinged for over-sharing, but then I'm often communicating with our business users. They usually don't care about all the gory details, they just want to know someone is working on their problem, when it will be fixed and when pertinent, how much it'll cost. So now, I often say "something went wrong with the dinglehopper, I'm working on it now, should be fixed in nnn (minutes/hours/days, whatever). If you'd like more details on what's wrong please contact me, and I'll send an update when I have more information." Sometimes someone will want more details but generally they don't.
September 26, 2016 at 7:38 am
dmbaker (9/26/2016)
Grant Fritchey (9/26/2016)
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I was hoping someone would come in and argue in favor of hiding information since it sometimes seems to be considered a valid position.Well, sometimes hiding *some* of the information is a good thing.
I've been dinged for over-sharing, but then I'm often communicating with our business users. They usually don't care about all the gory details, they just want to know someone is working on their problem, when it will be fixed and when pertinent, how much it'll cost. So now, I often say "something went wrong with the dinglehopper, I'm working on it now, should be fixed in nnn (minutes/hours/days, whatever). If you'd like more details on what's wrong please contact me, and I'll send an update when I have more information." Sometimes someone will want more details but generally they don't.
And what most people heard was "Wah, wah, wah, fixe in nnnn, wah, wah, wah." Ha!
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
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